Deloitte's global technology, media and telecommunications practice announced the inaugural "2016 Global Mobile Consumer Trends" report, highlighting the increasing trends for connectivity and mobile phone usage across the board. The report notes that both intensity in usage and ownership statistics are increasing – in some categories more than doubling – pointing to dramatically changing consumer behaviors, and a shift towards non-voice communications such as text and instant messaging.

Deloitte conducted a survey designed to gather information regarding consumer behaviors, trends and opinions for a broad range of wireless and mobility products and services across regions and specific countries. The results offer an extensive perspective of the mobile consumer climate, offering country and market-level comparisons, covering six continents, 31 countries, and 49,500 respondents, representing nearly 70 percent of the world's total population.

"The reality is that mobile behaviors have become the status quo, and usage is being calculated in the billions, driving new areas of opportunity and investment that is seemingly endless," said Craig Wigginton, partner, Deloitte & Touche LLP, and U.S., global and Americas telecom leader. "The long-term growth prospects for many companies around the world must rely on their ability to stay ahead of these connected consumers and their rapidly changing and evolving habits, especially when so much can be done with a click or swipe of our phones."

Mobile Payments Continue to Pick Up Speed
While it is still a relatively new application, mPayment usage is gaining traction globally. In developed markets 20 percent of consumers reported using mobile payments. In emerging markets, almost half (47 percent) of the consumers reported phone usage to make in-store payments, and 65 percent indicated their interest to use the technology. Highlighting the rapid speed of pick-up, China, a predominantly cash market over the past year, has been one of the fastest countries to adopt mobile payments for in-store purchases with a 66 percent increase over last year.

However, amongst all surveyed, consumers listed security as the No. 1 reason for not wanting to use mPayments – with 40 percent of consumers globally noting concern that mobile payments are not secure enough.

"The lack of confidence in mPayment security points to a global need for consumer education, considering that these systems are often more secure than traditional payment methods," continued Wigginton. "As we witness its proliferation worldwide, surprising nuances and behavioral attitudes in the global marketplace are taking shape, especially in technologically-advanced countries like Germany, France and the U.S., which are far more reluctant to use mobile payment solutions than their emerging market counterparts."

Additional highlights and details from the executive summary of the Global Mobile Consumer Survey include:

Mobility comes in all shapes and sizes: Keeping with annual trends, the number of global consumers who own devices continues to increase with 78 percent having smartphones, nearly 10 percent owning wearables, and more than 50 percent having tablets. Diving deeper into wearable devices, the survey shows that, one-fourth of consumers in emerging markets plan to buy a wearable device in the next year. On a country-by-country basis, Singapore leads the world in connected consumers. Poland also ranks near the top in each category, with the U.S., Australia and Italy close behind. 

Consumers can't get enough mobile screen time: Almost all mobile consumers check their phones within three hours of waking up. In emerging markets, 93 percent of consumers look at their phone within an hour or less of waking up. Similarly, 14 percent of emerging market consumers check their phones at least 100 times a day.

Text and instant message are consumer favorites: Globally, amongst available mobile device applications, consumers are checking text messages and instant messages first in the morning. Although voice service remains the most commonly used application across the developed markets with 76 percent indicating usage in the last week, it is closely followed by text messages (74 percent).

Regional preferences for network vs. Wi-Fi: In developed markets, 4G speeds are consistently higher than Wi-Fi speeds. In the Americas region, Wi-Fi is the preferred method to connect to the internet, while Europe and Asia-Pacific prefer mobile (e.g., 4G).